Living in Seattle

It’s been a month and 2 weeks since my wife and I moved to Seattle.

We didn’t exactly choose the most beautiful time of the year to move but still we are liking it so far. The weather is what I keep hearing people complaint about but honestly it’s not that bad. In my humble opinion there are more good things about this place than bad things. The weather is a detail.

Rain is not really rain here. Most of the time is just this annoying mist and very fine grain rain which is a lot mote annoying than heavy rain. People don’t use umbrellas for light rain. If you do, you’re clearly not from around here.

We’ve had a few beautiful sunny days since we got here, although those were the coldest so now we prefer cloudy over sunny days during Autum and winter. #whaat?

One thing my wife and I love about the city is the vast amout of trees and green zones. We can’t imagine how gorgeous it will be during spring and summer.

The first attraction we visited was the Pike Market Place which is now my wife’s favourite. It’s impressive how vegetables and fruits look so perfect. Some fruits don’t taste as good as in Chile but they look gorgeous and appetizing. #tradeoffs

Starbucks are everywhere in downtown. It’s ridiculous how close they are from each other, sometimes less than a block away. People working at Starbucks and any other stores are nicer than other places I’ve been in the states. I like that every time we visit a store, at least one person smiles back.

People are nice, polite and welcoming. The population majority is not originally from here. Thus you get to see diversity every day which is awesome!

Parking lots seem to be a great business in the city. For every Starbucks coffee shop there’s like 5 parking lots. And I suspect it’s because the city is made for cars. Cars are more like a necessity than a luxury. Although not everybody can afford one, services like Uber, Lyft, Car2go and Zipcar are doing great here.

Driving is… a trial to your patience. People don’t seem to be in a hurry. The horn is rarely used and trust me, sometimes you can tell when someone is texting while waiting for the green light. #annoying

Transport is good, and when I say good I mean, quality/cost wise. It’s very accurate and you have, in my humble opinion, one great app for your phone to plan your trips, Transit. I felt a little lost at first but now I feel like I can take a bus anywhere.

Timezone is a bummer, specially for us since our family is 5 hours ahead of us. It’s hard to keep in contact during the week but we catch up on weekends.

Tomorrow it’s Christmas, our very first Christmas away from family and friends. It seems tough but we’re really excited about it.

Overall, if we draw the line for the sum, our life is just as good as it was back in Chile. I’d say better for a handful of reasons but we’re still far from family and friends which is quite a tradeoff.